FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to an improved process for the manufacture of acrylonitrile or methacrylonitrile. In particular, the present invention is directed to the improvement in the recovery procedures utilized during the manufacture of acrylonitrile or methacrylonitrile. In addition, the improved process of the present invention improves the quality of the resulting product by minimizing peroxide impurities.
Recovery of acrylonitrile/methacrylonitrile produced by the ammoxidation of propylene or isobutylene on a commercial scale has been accomplished by quenching the reactor effluent with water followed by passing the gaseous stream containing acrylonitrile or methacrylonitrile resulting from the quench to an absorber where water and the gases are contacted in counter-current flow to remove substantially all the acrylonitrile or methacrylonitrile, the aqueous stream containing substantially all the acrylonitrile or methacrylonitrile is then passed through a series of distillation columns and associated decanters for separation and purification of product acrylonitrile or methacrylonitrile.
Typical recovery and purification systems that are used during the manufacture of acrylonitrile or methacrylonitrile are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,234,510 and 3,885,928, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and herein incorporated by reference.